How to do a Maradona in Soccer

Free Soccer Training video focused on How to do a Maradona in Soccer. At Online Soccer Academy (OSA) we make BETTER Soccer Players / Football Players through FREE soccer tutorials. We inspire athletes that if you Believe in it® and back that up with hard work, anything in life is possible.

How to do a Maradona in Soccer

The Maradona is named after Diego Maradona. A famous player from Argentina who is now a coach. This move is also called the Zidane, the Roulette, the Hurricane, the Twister and there are probably a few more for it. In this video I will refer to it as the Maradona.

The Maradona is an attacking move used to escape a tackle from a defender.

Key Points:

1. Stop ball with the toe studs of your dominant foot and drag the ball back a few inches2. Place your dominant foot between the ball and the defender, get your arm up to shield the defender3. Your back foot, non dominant foot toe studs stop the ball and then you drag the ball into space and few steps ahead of you. Almost a full 360 degree turn but not quite, it really depends where the defender is on the direction you will spin too. 4. Change pace and accelerate after you do the Maradona to escape the defender

Things to Note:

The Maradona works best when defenders are coming at you from an angle or from your side, not straight on.

Make sure you change direction when doing the Maradona. This move isn't meant to just spin you in a full circle and put you in the same direction going forward because that's where the defender is. The Maradona is used so as you are spinning, your body is creating a shield from the defender winning the ball and it spits you out in another direction away from the defender.

Equipment Needed: Soccer ball, three cones

Exercise Player Can Do:

We will break this exercise into four parts. Here are the first two parts. Start off practicing the Maradona without the ball. Get your body use to doing the Maradona technique. Once you are confident then practice using the ball from a standing position. Do the Maradona then accelerate away from an imaginary defender.

Once you are feeling good try this move while dribbling with no cones. Then when you are ready set up three cones in a V shape about 5 yards apart from each other. Dribble to the second cone which is the defender, then do the Maradona and accelerate to the third cone. Light jog back and repeat. Repeat until you have mastered it.

What Player Could Be Doing Wrong:

If the ball is going all over the place when you do the Maradona you are going to fast. Slow this move down, it's not usually done at full speed. Slow your run down a bit, do the move, then accelerate.

If the defender is winning the ball from you when you try this it's because you are not pulling the ball back when you do this move and getting it out of the defender's reach. Your Maradona shouldn't look like a ballerina move where you just spin on top the ball but the ball stays in the same place.